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TastingFreedom
JoinedPosts by TastingFreedom
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13
Art that expresses feelings as victims of the Jehovah's Witness cult
by TastingFreedom insome may think that mind control is forceful manipulation of a person.
it is possible to create a "frankenstein" by coercive manipulation and thought control.
it is a process in which an organization, a group or individual systematically uses unethically manipulative methods to persuade others to conform to the wishes of the manipulator(s), often to the detriment of the person being manipulated.
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The Thrills Of Life (Before vs After being a JW)
by TastingFreedom inlife most of the time seems fairly monotonous, tedious, repetitive.
sometimes you feel uncertainty, not knowing what is going to happen.
other times, you know exactly what is going to happen and you feel peace of mind.
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TastingFreedom
Flipper: What you said here so eloquently and your 7 years out are solid evidence and confirmation to many of us that being truly reborn to be you even with the uncertainty is worth a lot more than an everlasting life (that doesn't exist) being a slave for a publishing corporation.
WtWizard: I love the poetry in how you write, especially "Kingdumb Hell"
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The Thrills Of Life (Before vs After being a JW)
by TastingFreedom inlife most of the time seems fairly monotonous, tedious, repetitive.
sometimes you feel uncertainty, not knowing what is going to happen.
other times, you know exactly what is going to happen and you feel peace of mind.
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TastingFreedom
Zid: Your heart and mind were constrained or chained down. I felt just like you all of my JW life, until those chains were broken, and I felt and allowed myself to learn who I am, to feel and to be human (when I became weak, I actually became strong and free).
Robots don't have emotions or feelings, wait... The Dubs (like robots) seem to have emotions but repress them. They are told to ignore their identity, their self being. Therefore, they are not allowed to feel, to cry and lose hope because it's a sign of weakness (lack of faith); they are trained to deny their emotions and to follow a strict rigid, disciplined way of life. They are told that they don't matter, they are worthless, their value comes ONLY from whatever God thinks of them. But wait, you never feel like you do enough for God. Not only that, you are afraid he will destroy you in Armageddon, and then you have guilt....
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The Thrills Of Life (Before vs After being a JW)
by TastingFreedom inlife most of the time seems fairly monotonous, tedious, repetitive.
sometimes you feel uncertainty, not knowing what is going to happen.
other times, you know exactly what is going to happen and you feel peace of mind.
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TastingFreedom
Life most of the time seems fairly monotonous, tedious, repetitive. Sometimes you feel uncertainty, not knowing what is going to happen. Other times, you know exactly what is going to happen and you feel peace of mind.
Today is one of those days for me. You have a sense for things to come in the future and it makes you feel fully alive when you get surprised with pleasant news.
I wanted to share that with the community here.
There has been uncertainty about my budget at work and we just heard that for 1-2 years we should be fine with some of the existing tasks.
In any case, this has gotten me thinking. How was our life before and after being Jehovah's Witnesses?
It seemed before everything was predictable, you knew exactly what was going to happen.
You had a fixed schedule and plans every day, week, sometimes even for the entire year, and you even knew what was going to happen for your entire life, even after death. Everything, for the most part, was predictable. Of course, there was still some room for bad surprises, like death, job circumstances, but you still pretty much knew what was going to happen if you did everything you were expected to do as far as the bible and what Watchtower provided as spiritual food (At least you were told that).
Everybody knows what is expected to happen and you sort of expect things to go a certain way.
After leaving a cult where most people live such a structured way of life, where you have very precise guidance for everything you do, there is really no room for surprises or spontaneous things to happen.
Not to say that your life becomes chaotic after you stop being a Witness, but at least from my own personal level, I give more room for being spontaneous and sometimes discover things that are quite surprising. You start getting out of the routine and finding joy even in mundane activities.
I guess uncertainty can give you a sense of risk, even possibly pain, but if you don't risk, there is no chance to know if you will gain something. The odds of discovering pleasant things are much higher when you try new things. Yes, sometimes even by trial and error, but it's not doing so blindly. You have intelligence and pretty good indicators, including experience and critical thinking. So, even if the uncertainty is not always a good thing and may even create anxiety, you can be surprised by unexpected things that are better than what you had in mind and that my friends is the pleasure of life, that is the journey of life, giving yourself space to maneuver to be surprised by new experiences that will make you a better person and find new joys. I will rather have uncertainty and being surprised than being a robot and knowing how to predict everything that will happen in my life. Sometimes you will be surprised by amazing new opportunities, people, and other things that otherwise you would have never have come across. Life is great!!
I prefer to be a human 1000 times with fears, uncertainty and sometimes anxieties over a robot that is predictable.
That's how I intend to enjoy the thrill of life, with its ups and downs!! -
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Jehovah Unmasked
by Soldier77 injehovah unmasked by nathaniel j. merritt.
has anyone read this and what are your thoughts, opinions?
i have just downloaded it tonight and i'm already on chap.
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TastingFreedom
This is my favorite book, i could not put it down. It truly made me see how ridiculous my beliefs were.
It made by see God from the other perspective, the evil god, jeleous, insecure and violent. But at the end, I just realized he was just a myth, just like Satan, the most preferred boggie man to pick on. Blame the unknown to unexistant creatures, build myths and cultural traditions along the way!
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Any melancholy about not being with JW relatives for Thanksgiving?
by TastingFreedom ini look forward to a happy thanksgiving with my family, and my cousin's family.
we grew up together and share many childhood experiences.
she has been of a great source of support after leaving the cult.
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TastingFreedom
A minute of silence for those who are still stuck and not able to be with family on such a special occasion.
I guess I'm the only one struggling a little bit with missing some of the close relatives that are still trapped in the cult. :(
Happy thanksgiving everybody!
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Any melancholy about not being with JW relatives for Thanksgiving?
by TastingFreedom ini look forward to a happy thanksgiving with my family, and my cousin's family.
we grew up together and share many childhood experiences.
she has been of a great source of support after leaving the cult.
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TastingFreedom
I look forward to a Happy Thanksgiving with my family, and my cousin's family. We grew up together and share many childhood experiences. She has been of a great source of support after leaving the cult. When it comes to food, we will have stuffed baguettes with Salvadoran roast turkey and it special sauce. It should be delicious!!
I have to admit that it's a bit difficult to think about not being able to be with my siblings and my parents for this special holiday. We used to celebrate it together even as JWs. We didn't call it "Thanksgiving", but we still had an excuse to get together and have turkey. But with the shunning that is not possible anymore as we all know.
So there is a bit of melancholy thinking about that, I miss those good old times where the whole family could be together. I guess many of us here share that common sadness. It's a loss for everybody because of this stupid cult. I know they suffer just as much.Do you guys have the same feelings? I guess we all need to have sympathy for each other, since we all relate to this sad situation.
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Excellent Movie--Agora
by Justitia Themis ina must-see for people on this discussion forum.
it's the story of hypatia, the female mathmetician and philosopher who had the distinct unfortune to be alive when those jesus-loving christians were becoming ascendant in alexandria.
she was eventually killed by christians...you know...they have always had problems with really smart women.
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TastingFreedom
Great movie, I love it. It shows what fanatism can do to society and to science. It brings it to the dark ages!!
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How do you know you are not deceiving yourself?
by cyberjesus inif you are so certain of what you believe... how do you know you are not deceiving yourself?
did you know that self deception is natural brain mechanism?.
here is an interesting video for you.
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TastingFreedom
There is a book that relates to this topic, "Under the influence", it shows the effect of group dynamics:
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For those still trapped in the cult, be careful with your sanity
by TastingFreedom ini relate to your pain and suffering.
you remind me of the struggle i had for over a year, where i was pushing myself to go the meetings and even gave public talks because of friends and family, even when i knew it was all bullshit.
i was so sick to my stomach, that i literally felt like puking during the meetings.
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TastingFreedom
letsslatejws, I suggest you ignore their calls and you simply stop opening the door. They will eventually get tired, and hopefully get the message that you want nothing to do with them. Good luck!